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World Hotels - Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter (New York Times Notable Books)
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List Price: $13.95
Our Price: $11.16
Your Save: $ 2.79 ( 20% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780061228155
ISBN: 006122815X
Label: Harper Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 2008-10-01
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Release Date: 2008-10-07
Studio: Harper Paperbacks
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Editorial Reviews:
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Warning: May contain material offensive to vegans, pharmaceutical lobbyists, and those on a low-sodium diet. Animals were harmed during the writing of this book. While Phoebe Damrosch was waiting for life to happen, she supported herself by working as a waitress. Before long she was the only female captain at the four-star New York City restaurant Per Se during its first year. Service Included is the story of her obsession with food, her love affair with a sommelier, and her amusing, eye-opening, and sometimes shocking experiences in the fascinating, frenetic, highly competitive world of fine dining. Sitting down at a restaurant table will never be the same.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Yawn - did I sleep through this book?
Comment: I agree with the other reviews - the torrid love affair was boring at best. The most interesting parts were few and far between and were always related to the restaurant. This book only got published because it is about Per Se, and by default, Thomas Keller. The author doesn't impress me and her need to insult her "red-state readers" led me to return the book. Totally unneccessary and obnoxious.
Customer Rating:
Summary: You'll want to read this if you're in the restaurant industry . . . or you enjoy dining out
Comment: SERVICE INCLUDED by Phoebe
Damrosch had me hooked when I read the back cover and its
WARNING:
May contain material offensive to vegans, pharmaceutical lobbyists and
those on a low-sodium diet. Animals were harmed during the writing
of this book.
Now that sounded like something I would want to read . . . and I
did--with delight.
Damrosch, upon graduation from college, supported herself as
a waitress . . . she soon became the only female captain at
Per Se, the four-star New York City restaurant . . . this book
presents her account of what life in this industry is all about.
I laughed at some at some of the rules she had to follow, such
as Rule #20:
* When asked, guide guests to the bathroom instead of pointing.
Her take on this was even funnier:
* I understand the logic of this. I hate wandering around restaurants,
opening broom closets and storage rooms looking for the ladies' room.
Even when someone says it's around the corner and to my right,
I still manage to end up in the coffee station. At Per Se, unless we
were holding plates in our hands, we were expected to show the
guest the way. I usually saw them just past the bar because at least
a few times a week, guests walked into the glass wall of the wine
cellar; and if they didn't walk away with a bloody nose, they certainly
walked away with less dignity. After selling them the very wine that
clouded their minds and blurred the line between air and glass, it hardly
seemed fair to let them go unsupervised. Once past the danger zone,
however, I gestured down the hallway to the well-marked bathrooms
and let the guest take it from there. Even so, some of the men seemed
a bit uncomfortable, as if I planned to accompany them in and help. The
eighteen percent you will leave me, sir, I always wanted to say, would
not cover that.
In addition, the author provided many useful tips for diners; among them:
* Please do not ask us what else we do. This implies that (a) we shouldn't
aspired to work in the restaurant business even if it makes us happy and
financially stable, (b) that we have loads of time on our hands because
ours is such an easy job, and (c) that we are not succeeding
in another field.
* Don't send something back after eating most of it.
Lastly, I enjoyed reading Damorsch's account of her love affair
with a sommelier . . . it enabled me to feel like I got to know
them both better, especially after reading this one exchange:
* "Who are you?" Andre demanded when I refused an ice cream cone
a few weeks later. "The woman I fell in love with never said no
to ice cream."
"The woman you fell in love with could also stand to lose a few pounds."
"Are you kidding? My prenup is going to have a weight minimum. You
lose a pound, I dock you."
Yup, this one was worth fighting for.
SERVICE INCLUDED is a MUST for anybody in the restaurant
industry, though I think that just about anybody else who eats
out will enjoy it too.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Precision becomes art
Comment: Despite the sex drugs and rock & roll touched on this is on balance a dining procedural. It is very very good if you want an insiders look at what makes for great dining experiences. It also conveys a lot about what it is to be part of the service staff in a restaurant. It also is great for those of us who love New York city. My sister, who has worked all her life in that enviroment, read it in one sitting and found it quite the best book on the topic ever.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not really what the title suggests
Comment: Billed as a front of the house "kitchen confidential" but sadly it was not at all. Mildy interesting but without any of the juice that was promised. Not recommended by me.
Customer Rating:
Summary: not what I expected
Comment: ok i got this book becauce of the place the author worked and the chef she worked for. What I got was a book more about here personal love life which in the brief time she worked there was sev diff coworkers including a secret relationship with a managerial level employee. SO the amount of the book devoted to the chef and the restaurant itself was less than I desired. Her employer Per Se also is one of the first places in the States to charge a service charge on all purchases which the author's tale ends just before its implemented which is also something I wanted to see details on in the book. Sadly the author quits to avoid the loss of income this would entail. It was interesting to learn the chef did this to equalize the kitchen pay to the servers wages. Personally I assumed a place of such caliber would pay well above the standard wages but mind you the servers were probably clearing low 5 figures when they were being tipped.
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